January 2015
Happy New Year |
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NEW AWAM TEMPLE - We now are in our new temple (gompa) in the Rancho Center on Speedway. It is going to be "amazing". Watch for the announcement of our Open House! Please see details below and come visit us.
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SPRING CLASSES - Session 1 spring classes start January 4 and will include (1) Natural Liberation Part 3, the third of a series of 8 classes covering the entire path of Tibetan Buddhism, available online, (2) Khorde Rushen Part 1, the preliminary practices for Dzogchen, online, and (3) Trekcho Part 1 in Tucson. See details below. A complete listing of our courses is available on our website under "classes".
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HE JIGME LODRO RINPOCHE will be returning to Tucson for further teachings on the Dzogchen or Great Perfection tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Please see details below.
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KHENPO DEAN and ANNE PARKER will be offering a two-part workshop on Buddhism, Brain and Happiness the last Saturday mornings in March and April. A previous offering of this workshop in Tubac was very popular. Watch for details.
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PRAYER REQUESTS - We are now accepting Prayer Requests. We will recite prayers for you or anyone you designate, including pets or other beings. Volunteer to recite practices requested. See details below or on our website under "Community."
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PAPERBACK version of INNATE HAPPINESS: REALIZING COMPASSION-EMPTINESS, my book on the complete path of Tibetan Buddhism, will be available in January from Amazon.com. Please see details below.
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We are also working on other new ideas to enrich our offerings, including open sit times for meditation, beginning meditation, specific Tibetan meditation practices, Tibetan yoga and more. Please stay tuned!
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Don't forget TWITTER and FACEBOOK! This is a good way to get notices and reminders of events, special days in the Tibetan Buddhist calendar, along with dharma quotes to support your practice. Try them out! Go to our website AwamInstitute.org to connect with us.
In Buddhanature,
Khenpo Dean
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OUR NEW TEMPLE (Gompa)
3400 E Speedway, Suite 204, Tucson AZ
(located east of Whole Foods in the Rancho Center)
We are now in our new Gompa! Our shipment of decorative and ritual items from Nepal will be arriving any day now! Jane Stanley and Blythe Thompson are making cushions and a skirt for our shrine table. Patrick Flint is constructing our new throne and decorative "pillars". Amber Moore, who lives in Nepal and made the purchases for us said, "This temple is going to be amazing. It will look just like an ancient temple out of the Himalayas." We will, of course, be holding an Open House after everything has been installed and blessed. Watch for the announcement!
We will also be adding new meditation and Tibetan yoga sessions, as well as workshops and teachings to help you with your practice. While our emphasis is on the Tibetan Buddhist practices, we will also have open meditation sessions and beginner lessons appropriate to everyone, regardless of religion or other beliefs. We hope this will be of benefit to all beings. Please join us for our regular practices.
We appreciate your support for this new endeavor. You may donate on our website at AwamInstitute.org; go to the "Donate" tab. There, you may make single or monthly contributions to support our new temple. We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit religious organization. All donations are tax deductible to the extent of the law. We still need a couple of donations of "things" for our gompa:
Small hotel sized refrigerator
microwave
tea-lights (candles)
Please contact [email protected] to make arrangements for delivery or bring to our Meditation Hour on Sundays.
Thank you for your consideration and many thanks to those who have already donated! May all beings benefit.
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SPRING CLASSES - Session 1
Starting January 4
Tucson:
Trekcho Part 1 (Sundays @ 1:00 pm; 8 weeks, $80)
Awam Tibetan Buddhist Institute, 3400 E Speedway, Suite 204, Tucson AZ
(located just east of Whole Foods in the Rancho Center)
Online:
Natural Liberation Parts 3 & 7 (6 weeks, $60)
and Khorde Rushen Part 1 (8 weeks, $80)
REGISTER at AwamInstitute.org(classes)
Natural Liberation provides a very thorough 8-part program for those who wish to learn, but have limited time to practice. Natural Liberation is a direct approach to study and practice divided into eight, 6-week parts. The teachings by Khenpo Drimed Dawa are all on video, supplemented with printable handouts. This program is organized around a very concise series of practices given by Padmasambhava in a text translated as Natural Liberation and is supplemented by similar concise practices from other masters. After an introduction to the history of Buddhism in India and Tibet, the practices follow a sequence known as the nine vehicles. These practices are particularly appropriate for householders as most take little time to learn or master and were taught specifically for such practitioners. Together they form a concise set of incremental steps leading to the deep inner peace of innate happiness or enlightenment.
More specifically, the teachings are divided into an introduction and four main paths of practice that are sequential within Tibetan Buddhism: (1) the Path of Individual Liberation, (2) the Path of Altruism, (3) the Path of Tantra, and (4) the Path of Great Perfection. Within each path, the courses follow a teaching by the Buddha called the Three Trainings: (1) ethics, (2) meditation, and (3) wisdom. So within each path, the courses cover that view of ethics, its main meditation practices, and its view of wisdom. At the end, there is a review and focus on the realization of the deep inner peace of the innate happiness of enlightenment. The text for this course is Innate Happiness: Realizing Compassion Emptiness by Khenpo Drimed Dawa, available as an eBook from Amazon.com. This text was written specifically for this course, as well as to benefit others who might read it.
Natural Liberation Part 3 -The Path of Tantra begins with the ethical view of tantra and the "common" preliminary practices: precious human birth, impermanence, suffering of samsara, and karma; followed by the "uncommon" preliminary practices: refuge and bodhicitta, Vajrasattva purification, mandala offerings, and Guru Yoga.
Natural Liberation Part 7- Begins the Path of Great Perfection with the ethical perspective, the preliminary practices for separating samsara from nirvana called khorde rushen, and the practice of trekcho.
Khorde Rushen Part 1 - Khorde Rushen is the separation of samsara (delusion) from nirvana (non-delusion). These are a series of practices designed to help the yogin realize and directly experience the difference between samsara and nirvana by transforming the mind, i.e., our way of seeing the world. Khorde Rushen is sometimes referred to as the Dzogchen preliminary practices. Texts: The Great Perfection, Vol. II by the Third Dzogchen Rinpoche (restricted text), and Yeshe Lama by Vidyadhara Jigmed Lingpa (restricted text).
Trekcho Part 1 - The trekcho instructions are part of the special instruction series. This course will examine these instructions, particularly through the writings of the highly regarded master Longchenpa. Students will also further develop their actual practice. Yeshe Lama or comparable empowerment required. Texts: Yeshe Lama by Vidyadhara Jigmed Lingpa (restricted text), The Great Perfection, Vol. II by the Third Dzogchen Rinpoche (restricted text), and Dzogchen: the Heart Essence of the Great Perfection by H.H. the Dalai Lama.
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HE JIGME LODRO RINPOCHE
February 18-22, including Losar (the Tibetan New Year)
Awam Tibetan Buddhist Institute, 3400 E Speedway, Suite 204, Tucson AZ
(Located just east of Whole Foods in the Rancho Center)
His Eminence Jigme Lodro Rinpoche has agree to return to Tucson to give 5 days of teachings on the 5 Dzogchen lineages. This is a rare opportunity to receive these teachings from a very special teacher.
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We are now accepting Prayer Requests. We will recite prayers for you or anyone you designate, including pets or other beings. It is customary to make a donation to help support the Sangha when making prayer requests base on your circumstances. Below are examples with suggested donations:
- White Tara or Medicine Buddha - for sickness, injury or surgery ($20)
- Vajrasattva - prayer for purification ($20)
- White Tara or Amitayus - long life prayers ($20)
- Chenrezig or Green Tara - stressful or negative situations ($20)
- For a person or an animal who has recently died. *
- Phowa - ($20)
- Nei Dren - guiding the deceased to higher realms ($40)
- Tibetan Book of the Dead - seven day version ($100) or full forty-nine day version. ($250)
- Special Tsok offerings ($40)
- Puja Smoke offerings ($40)
*Please include the person's name. For Phowa, Nei Dren or the Tibetan Book of the Dead, please include a photo, if possible.
Please email your request to [email protected]. To make donations, please go to our website under the "Donate" tab. For any other requests, please send an email to [email protected]
VOLUNTEER to recite practices requested by others. Let Jane Stanley know if you would like to be on our list of volunteers. Just email us at [email protected].
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INNATE HAPPINESS: REALIZING COMPASSION-EMPTINESS
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INNATE HAPPINESS: REALIZING COMPASSION-EMPTINESS
Khenpo Drimed Dawa's book on the complete path of Tibetan Buddhism
Paperback version will be released in January
Khenpo Dean is known for his concise, clear explanations of the dharma. Innate Happiness provides background and a series of concise, incremental steps toward compassion-emptiness - enlightenment - for Western householders in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. It is largely adapted from the teachings of Padmasambhava, the second Buddha. The book guides the reader through a brief history of Buddhism in India and Tibet, as well as its major principles. This is followed by 52 concise daily practices on the Path of Individual Liberation, the Path of Altruism, the Path of Tantra, and the Path of Great Perfection. Each path takes the reader through the Three Teachings: ethics, meditation, and wisdom. These are then summarized into an explanation of the innate happiness we know as enlightenment, the realization of compassion-emptiness. Thus, it covers a complete cycle for study, contemplation, meditation and realization. Each practice is highly suitable for the busy lives of Westerners with little time for formal meditation. This is also the core text for our Natural Liberation classes.
The eBook is available from Amazon.com for only $9.99. Free readers are available for most computers and other devices. The paperback version will be released in January for $17.95.
May ALL beings be happy!
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For more information about the Awam Tibetan Buddhist Institute, please visit:.
Bodhicitta the excellent and precious mind,
where it is unborn, may it arise,
where it is born, may it not decline
but ever increase, higher
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Copyright � 2015. All Rights Reserved.
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